


Hope Smiles

by DaydreamingofDragons



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, Holidays, M/M, New Year's Eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 20:27:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5679649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaydreamingofDragons/pseuds/DaydreamingofDragons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It isn't the celebratory New Year's Eve they were planning, but it works out happily anyway.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hope Smiles

**Author's Note:**

> Please don't look too close at the religious system here. Just accept it and enjoy the fluff?
> 
> Title from The Foresters by Alfred Lord Tennyson:  
> "Hope  
> Smiles from the threshold of the year to come,  
> Whispering 'it will be happier'"

“Give Bull our love,” Lamorna Trevelyan called down the phone, almost drowned out by the sound of the crowd around her and a part of Dorian was glad he wasn’t out with her. “Sera and Dagna promise him a personal fireworks party as soon as he’s better.”

Dorian winced. “Please don’t let them blow anything up. I don’t really want to be arrested. Or have to pay their bail.”

“They wouldn’t do that! Well, not on purpose anyway.” Someone yelled her name in the background and she interrupted herself to respond. “Oh, drat, look I have to go. You two look after yourselves and I’ll see you soon. Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year,” Dorian responded, uncertain whether she heard him or not before she hung up. Sighing, he slipped his phone away and headed back into the living room.

Bull was still where he had left him, at least. On the sofa, under a blanket. With a colouring book, of all things. _Dangerous Dastardly Dragons_. Dorian almost regretted buying it for him, entirely as a joke. Of course, Bull had taken to it with disturbing levels of glee. “Lamorna sends her love. Sera and Dagna send promises to explode things in your general direction.”

Bull looked up and grinned. “Aww, that’s sweet. We could still go, you know.”

Dorian crossed his arms over his chest. “No. No we could not. A week ago you were vomiting into a bucket and running a fever. You are _not_ going to stand around all evening in the cold for the sake a minute’s countdown and some fireworks.” He raised an eyebrow, daring Bull to argue with him.

“Okay, kadan,” Bull sighed. Dorian took his lack of fight as a testament to the fact that he was very definitely _not_ fine still. “You could still go though.”

Dorian blinked and considered. The thing was, he knew it was a genuine offer. With so many men he had known it would have been a trap; the guilt-trip he would be in for if he dared to take them at their word unbearable. But Bull would never have said it if he hadn’t meant it. He would wave Dorian goodbye, welcome him home sleepily when he stumbled back in and kiss him to help him forget his hangover in the morning. Just because he wanted Dorian to be happy.

Smiling with a sudden rush of fondness, Dorian walked across to the couch and bent to press a kiss to the top of Bull’s head, between his horns. “And deprive you of my luminous presence? I would never be so cruel, amatus.” He sighed and sat down, pressing himself into Bull’s side until he got the hint and wrapped a massive arm around his shoulders.

“So,” Dorian said, twisting to look up at Bull and smiling, “whatever shall we do with ourselves for the evening?” An invitation, if Bull felt up to taking him up on it.

“Hmmm, good question. There any of that chocolate cake left?”

Dorian laughed. “Well, at least you have your appetite back. Yes, there is.” He went to get up.

“Nah, you stay here. I’ll get it,” Bull said, pressing Dorian down into the cushions with one hand. “You’ve waited on me enough this week.”

Dorian didn’t argue. He made a point of never refusing offers of pampering. “With the brandy sauce,” he called after him.

Bull returned with two bowls, into which he snuck a good portion of extra brandy, from the taste of the sauce. They ate curled together on the couch and, when they had finished, Dorian pushed Bull back against the armrest and kissed the last remnants of chocolate and brandy off his lips.

Holding Dorian against him with one arm, Bull shifted to get his head on the armrest so he could lie on his side without his horns in the way. He fussed, uncomfortable, for a moment, then reached up to drag his eyepatch off. Dorian leaned up to help, unhooking it from one horn and stroking his fingers lightly over the scar.

“Kadan,” Bull breathed. Dorian blushed at the tone, at how Bull could affect him so with a single word, and snuggled down next to him, back against Bull’s chest. Bull pulled his discarded blanket over both of them and Dorian turned on the television with a flick of his hand.

“Cheater,” Bull whispered, hot breath on Dorian’s ear that made him shiver. His judgement didn’t stop Bull from humming along to the pop-iest of the music though, to Dorian’s amusement and despair.

Eventually, Dorian was almost certain Bull had fallen asleep, breathing slow and even into Dorian’s hair. A slow circling motion of one finger dropped the television volume to almost nothing. He let himself drift in the quiet.

“M’sorry.”

“Hmmm?” Dorian blinked, confused. _Oh, not asleep after all_. He wriggled around until he was facing Bull. “Bull? Whatever for?”

Bull wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Our first Christmas, was kinda awful.”

“It wasn’t _awful_.”

“I spent most of Christmas Day puking on you.”

Dorian grimaced. It had only been actually _on_ him once but still… “Alright, yes, it was slightly awful.” He pressed his hand to Bull’s cheek, until he would look at him again. “That hardly counts as your fault though.”

Bull shrugged. “Still.”

“Don’t dwell on it, Bull. There will be other Christmases,” his breath caught as he said it, as he realised what he had implied so casually.

“Yeah,” Bull replied, so fondly Dorian knew he hadn’t missed the implication. Of course. Bull so rarely missed anything. “Yeah, there will be.” Dorian exhaled with a shudder. Maker help him but when Bull said it with so much certainty, he couldn’t help but believe him. He hide his face against Bull’s chest for a moment, before following the urging of the hand on his back and leaning up for a kiss. Warm and reassuring, until Dorian sighed, soft and pleased, against Bull’s lips, then pulled back to find Bull smiling at him.

Bull pressed a kiss to Dorian’s forehead, cupped the back of his head with one hand and played with his hair. Dorian didn’t even make a pretense at fussing, melting back into Bull’s arms. It wasn’t as if anyone else was going to see him and Bull liked him with messy hair. Especially when he was responsible for its state.

Dorian sighed, not unhappily. There were far worse ways to spend New Year’s Eve, really. Freezing in a park, hoping Sera and Dagna hadn’t smuggled any extra fireworks in, for a start. The year before last, curled on Felix’s couch, shivering and praying his father had no idea where he had gone. And the year before that? Oh yes, a rather downmarket brothel in Minrathous, pretending he didn’t give a damn if his father _did_ know where he was.

“What’re you thinking of?” Bull murmured, still playing with his hair.

“Minrathousian brothels,” he replied, because he knew the truth would make Bull laugh.

Sure enough, Bull snorted. “Oh yeah, some of them are pretty great. That pretty little one just off the market, looked like a tea shop…” He trailed off, grinning slightly.

Dorian started at the realisation that he knew exactly where Bull meant. “They did serve tea, actually. Rather good too, as it happens.”

“Yeah? Huh. Damn, that’s weird.” Dorian hummed questioningly and Bull continued. “Wonder how close we were to bumping into each other? Shit, that sounds like the start of a joke. A Vint and a Qunari walk into a brothel…”

“And what’s the punchline?” It _did_ sound like a bad joke. But, then again, the truth of their first meeting was ‘A Vint and a Qunari walk into a Chantry’, which was hardly any more likely. Some days, bad days, Dorian felt that he was still waiting for the punchline to strike.

Bull made a thoughtful noise. “Oh, something filthy.” Dorian just had to laugh.

“Ah, my favourite kind. I can live with that.”

“Glad to hear it.”

Silence fell between them, soft and peaceful. Like the early morning snow Dorian would never openly admit to finding beautiful. The quiet murmur of the television seemed a very long way away, nowhere near as important as feeling the way Bull breathed into his hair, slowing towards sleep.

Bull fell asleep quickly in the quiet. Dorian did fully intend to stay awake. He had work and reading– put on hold while he looked after Bull– he should really catch up on. But he hadn’t got much more sleep than Bull recently. Less possibly (not that he had _worried_ , of course). And really, leaving the warmth and comfort of Bull’s arms was a very unattractive prospect.

Dorian woke again to the distant sound of fireworks, to find himself half sprawled over Bull, with one large hand resting on his back. He muttered a few curses about over-eager firework-lighters until he glanced at the television, still playing silently, and realised they weren’t over-eager at all. In fact, the ones he could vaguely hear and the ones on the screen were very likely one and the same.

Bull was still asleep next to him, relaxed and completely at peace. He shouldn’t wake him, should let him rest as long as he needed. But Dorian had always been a selfish man. He pressed a light kiss to Bull’s lips. Then another. A few more when he felt Bull stirring. Watching Bull wake up slowly was always a treat. Feeling it was even better. His breath warm against Dorian’s face, the little catch in it when Dorian’s tongue pressed against his lips. The quiet groan in his chest that Dorian swore he could feel right down to his bones, as he parted his lips and let Dorian have anything he wanted.

Dorian was certain he knew the exact moment Bull woke up. The hand resting on his back dug in hard for a moment, before rubbing a soothing little circle, then stroking slowly up and down his back, warm even through his shirt. Bull’s lips drew up into a smile.

One final kiss and he sat back just in time to see Bull’s eye flicker open, slow and sleepy. To see him smile at Dorian with a look of total… Dorian lost his breath in a rush, made a helpless noise in his throat and dived back down, pressing himself as close to Bull as he could. Bull kissed him back slowly, easily. They separated for air and Bull glanced past Dorian at the television. “Happy New Year, kadan.”

“Amatus,” was the only reply Dorian could give, because Bull was still looking at him like that. _Love, you know what it is. And it’s love_. And was there anything he wouldn’t do to keep Bull looking at him like that? To keep for himself the privilege of seeing Bull like this, sleep-eyed and beautiful, waking up next to him?

“We’ll do something more exciting next year,” Bull promised. And Dorian had to bite his tongue to stop himself from giving any number of ridiculously sappy answers. _This is perfect_ , perhaps. _You’re perfect_ , more worrying and not at all true, apart from in the ways that really mattered.

And there it was again; that certainty. That they would have the year together, and as many after as they wanted. He bent down to kiss Bull again. He couldn’t do anything else. Whispered against his lips, “I will hold you to that.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my [tumblr](http://daydreamingofdragons.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Hey, if anyone happens to know where I can get a dragon themed adult colouring book, let me know? I wrote that in randomly and it's now something I need.


End file.
